Wildfires of 2002

Milepost 78 Fire

2002AlaskaWildfire

The Milepost 78 Fire burned 115,328 acres in Alaska, in 2002. It was discovered on May 23, 2002, and contained on October 8, 2002. The cause was recorded as equipment and vehicle use.

Size
115,328 acres
Discovered
May 23, 2002
Contained
October 8, 2002
Cause
Human

Map

The burned area boundary MTBS mapped from Landsat imagery, 107,366 acres. Point of origin as reported, 65.438, -148.818.

The record

Reported final size
115,328 acres
Burned area mapped by MTBS
107,366 acres
Area inside the final perimeter
106,950 acres
Discovered
May 23, 2002, 7:31 a.m. local time
Contained
October 8, 2002, 8:00 a.m. local time
Cause
Human, Equipment and vehicle use
State
Alaska
Land ownership at origin
State
Reporting unit
Alaska Fire Service
Agency
Bureau of Land Management
Unit
AKTAD
Incident type
Wildfire
Unique fire identifier
2002-AKTAD-000175
MTBS fire identifier
AK6527414888420020523
MTBS assessment
Extended
Fire occurrence record
W-107780
Perimeter map method
Mixed Methods
Note on the perimeter
Fire perimeter modified using Landsat Image Service and MTBS-Alaska data. Image IDs: LE07_L2SP_070014_20030809_20200916_02_T1, LE07_L2SP_070014_20020806_20200916_02_T1.

The three sizes are three measurements: the size the agency reported when the fire was out, the burned area MTBS drew from satellite imagery before and after, and the GIS area inside the final perimeter, unburned islands included. They rarely agree exactly.

Other large fires in Alaska in 200212

FireAcresStartCause
Geskakmina Lake Fire257,549Jun 8, 2002Natural
Reindeer Fire226,833Jul 17, 2002Natural
Vinasale Fire189,688May 22, 2002Human
Yetna River Fire152,962Jul 18, 2002Natural
Sischu Fire128,983Jun 5, 2002Natural
Moose Lake Fire117,920Jul 17, 2002Natural
Colorado Creek Fire84,015May 26, 2002Natural
Long Creek Fire74,931Jul 21, 2002Natural
Galatea Creek Fire74,511May 22, 2002Natural
Windy Fire69,523Jul 17, 2002Natural
Spurs Fire64,834May 15, 2002Human
Bear Creek Fire59,939May 26, 2002Natural

Every fire of 2002 Alaska fire history

Nearby

Sources

Perimeters from the National Interagency Fire Center’s Interagency Fire Perimeter History, compiled from the Forest Service, BLM, BIA, Fish and Wildlife Service, National Park Service, the Alaska Interagency Fire Center and CAL FIRE. Burned areas and ignition dates from Monitoring Trends in Burn Severity (MTBS), a program of the US Geological Survey and the USDA Forest Service. Fire reports from Short, Karen C. 2022, Spatial wildfire occurrence data for the United States, 1992-2020 [FPA_FOD_20221014], 6th Edition, Forest Service Research Data Archive, doi.org/10.2737/RDS-2013-0009.6. Records before 2014 were joined by this site: a fire report to the burned area its MTBS identifier names, a perimeter to the burned area it lies in when the names or the sizes agree.